A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems that provide mobile Internet Protocol networking, wherein a mobile communications device such as a portable laptop computer or handheld personal digital assistant device may communicate with a host computer on a data packet network. More particularly, the invention relates to the interfaces between mobile and IP communications networks.
B. Description of Related Art
Packet switched data networks can be used to carry data traffic to and from mobile communications devices, such as a laptop computer or handheld personal digital assistant (“PDA”) computer. With these portable devices and mobile wireless radio capability, users may freely move about a geographic area, yet still be able to remotely access packet data networks such as the Internet to view information on the World Wide Web or access their home networks to access E-mail and data. Using the new class of portable PDA devices such as 3Com's Palm VII equipped with a cellular telephone modem and a wireless radio network will allow a new mobile computing network paradigm and further expand networking and mobile communication to portable devices.
Wireless mobile computing will likely use the same Internet Protocol (“IP”) protocols that provide networking over most fixed computer networks including the well-known Internet. IP, however, was originally designed for fixed networks without mobile wireless nodes. The basic architecture for mobile IP data networking is also emerging and described in several publications, including the Request for Comments document RFC 2002 (1996) and in the textbook of Charles E. Perkins, Mobile IP Design Principles and Practices, Addison-Wesley Wireless Communications Series (1998), both of which are fully incorporated by reference herein. While IP networks are still expanding in popularity, wireless IP is the next frontier in mobile computing.
Needed are more methods and techniques to interface the wireless radio network with conventional data packet networks.